


Oscar and Tinkerbell

by Humansunshine



Series: WLW Fic Bingo 2019 [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe: Mundane, Cat Owner Aline Penhallow, Cat Owner Helen Blackthorn, Cats, F/F, Insecurity, M/M, Trans Alec Lightwood, Trans Aline Penhallow, supportive friendships, trans author, wlw mlm solidarity, work friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 16:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19977031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humansunshine/pseuds/Humansunshine
Summary: Aline's cat Oscar falls in love with Helen's cat Tinkerbell, and Aline asks her friend Alec for advice.





	Oscar and Tinkerbell

**Author's Note:**

> This is my next offering for the WLW Shadowhunters fic bingo! This covers two squares for Team Blue: "Our cats fell in love while being outside what do we do now?" and "Free space", which I'm filling with "WLW/MLM solidarity".
> 
> Content warning for internalised transphobia/low self-esteem: Aline finds it hard to believe that a cis woman genuinely wants to date her with no concerns about her transness, but Alec is there to support her.

“Oscar?!” Aline called, shaking a box of cat food as she stood on her doorstep. It was late, and her cat Oscar had been out for hours. Usually he only stayed out for an hour or so at a time; he wasn’t the most social cat. The only other time he’d been out this late was when he’d gotten stuck up a tree. Aline stopped shaking the box and listened carefully for his meow.

Nothing.

There was no way that he’d been run over; Aline lived in a cul-de-sac, and only two of the five houses had cars. Oscar never wandered further that their street.

Heading back inside to get a torch, resigning herself to a night of looking up trees, Aline sighed. She loved Oscar dearly, he was her best friend, black with white paws and chest, but she could do without his little adventures on a work night. As she straightened up, she heard Oscar’s meow.

“Where have you been, young man?” Aline asked, rolling her eyes as she put the torch back in the drawer.

“Hi.”

Aline jumped out of her skin, snatching the torch back up like a weapon as she whirled around to face whoever had spoken. Her grip on the torch loosened a little when she took in the pretty blonde standing in her doorway, her hand raised like she was about to knock on the open door and Oscar tucked under her other arm looking a bit grumpy.

“Hi,” Aline said breathlessly, her eyes wide. “That’s my cat.”

“Yeah,” the blonde nodded, putting Oscar down. Another cat darted between the blonde’s legs, this one white and ginger. “I found him in my backyard… He and Tinkerbell were, uh… Cuddling.”

“Cuddling?” Aline could barely believe her eyes when she saw Oscar roll over on his back, batting fondly at the white and ginger cat.

“Well… Sort of rubbing up on each other, but Tink’s been fixed, so…”

“Oscar has too,” Aline assured her, “no need to worry about kittens, thank goodness.”

“Yeah, I’m not ready to be a grandma,” the blonde laughed lightly, and Aline smiled.

“They seem to be getting along really well, though. Tinkerbell must be a good influence on him.”

“I like to think so,” the blonde agreed. “I saw on his collar that he lived here and figured I’d bring him back, since it’s getting late. And Tink wasn’t having it, she followed us.”

“I’ve never known Oscar to make friends like this, not since he got fixed.” Aline admitted.

“Tink has that effect on cats,” the blond answered with a smile, “but she doesn’t usually follow them home. I think our cats are in love.”

“They’re cute together,” Aline chuckled, watching the two cats play together, rolling around the hallway floor. When she glanced back up at Tink’s owner, she was looking right at Aline, and Aline cleared her throat, sticking her hand out. “I’m Aline. Aline Penhallow.”

“Helen Blackthorn,” the blond told her, “nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Aline answered. A slightly awkward silence descended as they dropped their hands, both of them looking down at their cats. “So, uh, how far did Oscar go?”

“You know Goldman’s Avenue?”

“Oh yeah, where that house with all the Christmas lights is.” Aline’s eyebrows furrowed. “Damn, I had no idea that Oscar was going that far.”

“I’ve never seen him there before today. I think he must’ve been chased to our backyard by a dog or something.” Helen explained, “I was watching out the window, he seemed pretty freaked when he first ran under the fence.”

Aline tutted, bending to pick Oscar up. “You okay, baby? Did the mean dog get-?”

Oscar had scrambled out of her arms, dropping back down to continue playing with Tinkerbell.

“Wow, I guess you don’t need your Mommy now that you found a girlfriend.” Aline huffed.

“They grow up so fast,” Helen teased.

Aline giggled, nodding. She caught Helen’s eye, nerves fluttering in her stomach when Helen smiled warmly at her. “Um, I have work tomorrow.”

“Oh! Sorry, I’m keeping you up.” Helen apologised, bending down to scoop up Tinkerbell, who meowed unhappily, the sound ending with a soft growl. “Shush, you can play with Oscar another time.”

“Yeah, I mean… If she turns up here I’ll bring her back, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Aline. Maybe I should, um, leave my phone number? Just in case?” Helen suggested, adjusting her grip on Tinkerbell, who was wriggling wildly in an attempt to get back down on the floor. Oscar was standing on his hind legs, his front paws pressed to Helen’s knee.

“Yeah, of course!” Aline scrambled to grab a notepad and a pen. “I’ll write it down.”

Helen rattled off her phone number, and once Aline had recited it back to her, she stuck the post-it note on her fridge. “Cool, well… Call me.”

“If Tinkerbell turns up?” Aline asked, picking up Oscar so he couldn’t follow Helen out the door.

“Or, you know… Whenever,” Helen shrugged, her cheeks a bit pink. “If you’re into that.”

Aline shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was, but she was in her bunny slippers and mismatching pyjamas. “Oh… Okay.”

“Only if you’re into it!” Helen said quickly, “no pressure!”

“I’ll, um… Yeah,” Aline smiled slightly. “Okay.”

Helen breathed out a sigh of relief. “Okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll… Call you.”

“Cool,” Helen nodded, smiling so wide that she showed her teeth. It was cute.

As Aline closed the door she let Oscar leap down out of her arms, glaring at him playfully as he yowled grumpily at her. “Yes, well, I’m mad that they had to leave too. Guess we’re both going to bed alone tonight.”

When her friend Alec asked what she’d gotten up to the night before, Aline couldn’t stop herself from telling him all about Helen and Tinkerbell. She had to pause a couple of times for the two of them to answer their respective phones; they were on company time, after all.

“So you gonna call her tonight?” Alec asked, pulling a bag of Skittles out of the drawer of his desk, tipping the packet towards her.

Aline took a couple and tossed them into her mouth, leaning back in her chair. “I don’t know.”

“Why? You said she was cute.”

“What if she’s a terf?” Aline asked, and Alec wrinkled his nose.

“Did she give off terf vibes?” He checked.

Aline shrugged. “No, but does anybody?”

“Uh, yeah. Terfs give off terf vibes.”

“What are terf vibes?” Aline challenged, raising her eyebrows.

“Pretty much the same thing as ‘I want to talk to the manager’ vibes.” Alec shrugged, “if she’s nice enough to carry that bloody cat for two streets to bring him home, I doubt she’s a rabid transmisogynist.”

“I don’t know, Alec, I don’t know anything about her, she could be anybody.”

Alec huffed. “Look, I know you’re shaken after that shit with that blind date, but there’s no harm in texting this girl and telling her you’re trans. If she’s not interested then she won’t text back, and you’ll have lost nothing.”

“I don’t need to be dating anybody,” Aline argued, “I’m fine by myself.”

“I know that, but the longer you let that bitch Lydia be your last dating experience, the harder it’s gonna be to get back out there. You must like this girl at least a little, or you wouldn’t have told me about her.” Alec pointed out, and Aline frowned. He was right, as usual.

“Alright, I’ll make a deal with you.” Aline said, “I’ll text Helen asking her out if you go and ask out Magnus.”

Alec’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Have you lost your mind?! Keep your voice down!”

“Everyone knows you’re into him, it’s the worst kept secret in the office,” Aline muttered. Alec was glancing over to Magnus’ desk across the room, his cheeks pink.

“And everyone knows he’s way out of my league.” Alec hissed, “which is why I’m perfectly happy to lust after him from a distance.”

Aline folded her arms. “You want me to text Helen? Those are my terms.”

Alec looked between Aline and Magnus, torn. He wanted his friend to go after her happiness, but… He’d been pining for Magnus for weeks, ever since he’d transferred over from their New York offices. Magnus glanced over at him and smiled, his beautiful brown eyes twinkling with amusement, and Alec snapped his eyes away, sliding down in his chair a little. “Fine,” he grumbled, swallowing hard. “Challenge accepted.”

“What?” Aline asked, her eyes widening as Alec got out of his chair and walked across the room to Magnus’ desk. “Shit,” she grumbled, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Asshole.” She peeked over at Magnus’ desk, where Alec was standing before him, his back to Aline. Magnus was smiling, batting his eyelashes at Alec like he was flirting. Aline couldn’t help but smile. It had been painfully obvious ever since Magnus got here that he and Alec were interested in each other.

_-Hi Helen, it’s Aline Penhallow. The girl with the cat, Oscar, from last night. Hi. Just a head’s up that I’m transgender. If that’s not okay with you then no hard feelings, but if it is okay I’m wondering if you wanted to come over tonight for some takeout. Aline x_

Before she could chicken out, Aline sent the text and put her phone face down on the table. After a couple of minutes pretending to be interested in the spreadsheet she was meant to be working on, Alec sat down next to her with a happy sigh.

“He said yes, we’re going out on Friday,” Alec gushed, “he said he’d been planning to ask me out this week if I didn’t do it first.”

“Duh,” Aline smiled, “it’s been pretty obvious that you’re both into each other. I’m happy for you, Alec.”

“Did you text that girl?” Alec asked, picking up her phone.

“Yes,” Aline reached out to take back her phone, but Alec pushed his chair away from the table, the wheels taking it out of Aline’s reach. “Stop it, she’s probably not gonna reply.”

Alec smirked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Think again, Penhallow. Looks like you’ve got a date tonight.”

“I do?” Aline snatched her phone from his hand when he held it out, feeling flustered as she read Helen’s reply.

_-I was wondering when you were gonna text me! That’s cool, though, you being trans doesn’t make a difference to me but I appreciate your honesty. I’ll see you tonight! Is it okay if I bring Tink? It’d be cute for the cats to have a playdate. Helen x_

“She doesn’t care that I’m trans…”

“Of course she doesn’t,” Alec squeezed Aline’s shoulder, “because she’s not an asshole.”

Aline smiled slightly. “Yeah, I guess not.”

“Look at us, asking out the people we like,” Alec said, “we must be growing up.”

“Must be,” Aline laughed. She was excited at the prospect that Helen was interested in getting to know her. It was bad, she knew, that she was so surprised that a woman was attracted to her after knowing that she was trans. Maybe she still had some growing to do, but she had a feeling that if it went well with Helen, it would assuage some of her insecurities.

“Have you texted back?” Alec reminded her, and Aline hummed, unlocking her phone.

_-Of course, yeah! You and Tink can come over at 7ish x_

“Okay,” Aline sighed, leaning back in her chair. “That was… Not a big a deal as I thought it was going to be.”

Alec shrugged. “You’re a bona fide hottie and sweet as anything, any woman would be lucky to have you.”

“It’s hard for me to see sometimes,” Aline admitted, offering Alec a smile. “Thanks for making me look.”

“I’ve got you,” Alec promised her, nudging her with his shoulder. “Now, what the fuck am I supposed to wear on a date with the best-dressed guy on the East Coast?”


End file.
